The real Glaswegian working class voice in the independence debate read by thousands, the BBC and other related media, secured the first criminal conviction against one of the seven top cybernats outed by the Daily Mail

Elections are a funny business because the public can be
fickle, when the Westminster expenses row blew
into the open; it ushered in the SNP as the government in Scotland back
in 2007. A minority government, then through good PR, the SNP crafted a false
image of competence which wasn’t the reality; many people including myself were
taken in. The outcome of the 2011 election was a majority for the SNP, this was
never supposed to happen in Holyrood but it did, and then everything in
government of any real note stopped happening.

I would say that from 2012 to present day, the SNP
government has been a failure to act, a failure to change, chiefly everything
was abandoned for their Scottish independence bid. 2015 saw the SNP sweep the
board because of an angry electorate who supported the SNP, less than two years
later, the 56 SNP MPs found at the snap election of 2017, that their popularity
had dropped to 35.

The 35 SNP MPs found a different political landscape to sit
in, Brexit had happened and their place at Westminster and indeed in Holyrood was
looking irrelevant. Events were happening but the SNP found them being
marginalised, this was due to their attitude towards Westminster.

In 2017, like in 2011, I found myself in four election
campaigns, in both those elections; I managed to help 3 out of 4 candidates
cross the line to win.

In some cases that was a hard slog, but it is what it is, in
political campaigning in a polarised environment you have to keep your wits
about you.

According to a poll, the Scottish Conservatives would win
almost three times as many Scottish seats as Labour; this is on the basis if
there was a general election held tomorrow. The Electoral Calculus website
predicts The Scottish Conservatives would get 11 seats, while Scottish Labour
would get just four with 27 per cent share of the vote. Having hit rock bottom
in 2015, anything upwards for Scottish Labour must be seen as progress or luck
or disaffection with the SNP, or a combination of any of those variables.

At present, there are 13 Scottish Conservative MPs in Scotland, they have benefited from the swing
away from Scottish Labour who under Kezia Dugdale looked weak in the Union. There are 7 MPs from the Scottish Labour
Party and 4 from the Liberal Democrats. In Glasgow North East, the winning majority
was 242 votes, a close result which was due to an extraordinary effort by the
activists who came out to support Paul Sweeney, although he doubted he would
win, I didn’t at all. Sitting on 242 votes extra is a win, but if Scottish
Labour was to end up on 4 seats, Glasgow North East would have to be a Labour
priority in Glasgow
to the exclusion of all other seats in the city.

The forecast, I feel is wrong, was based on crunching polls
over the last two months involving more than 3000 people. I don’t see the SNP
doing well, but by the same token, I don’t see that the effort has been put in
by others on the ground to make an impact especially from Scottish Labour.
There still seems to be a lack of a vision from Scottish Labour which has ended
up talking in clichés.

A Scottish Labour spokesperson said:

“This research confirms that it is Labour - under the
leadership of Richard Leonard and Jeremy Corbyn - who are now the
clear alternative to Tory austerity and SNP complacency.”

If a snap election was held tomorrow, I think the bookies
would have their money on a Conservative victory. Scottish Labour back in 2015
was in no fit state to campaign, hence they got slaughtered, in 2016, nothing
much changed, in 2017, the Scottish Labour Party benefited from disaffection by
voters towards the SNP.

Hardly a winning strategy!

The Electoral Reform Society campaigns for a more
proportional voting system, however, there won’t be the change that they want,
people like First Past The Post, at least in Westminster elections. If you look at the trash
that gets in on the Holyrood list system, you can see the appeal.

Although the Electoral Calculus used polls covering 10,000
people to forecast Labour would come 0.2 per cent ahead in vote share in a snap
election, I don’t see that being reflective of the actual result, although as I
mentioned the Conservatives would be the bookies choice by a huge margin. Their
management of Brexit may not be razzle dazzle but it is competent, and the
public won’t sign up to various Labour politicians’ plans for staying in the
single market or the customs union.

Willie Sullivan, Director of Electoral Reform Society Scotland, said:

“This analysis shows that Westminster’s democratic deficit continues to
get worse. This situation would be absurd- but not unprecedented. Two elections
in the second half of the last century produced ‘wrong winner’ results. Now it
looks like it could happen in Scotland.
That’s not democracy, and does all of Scotland a disservice.”

Mr Sullivan added:

“London’s
broken electoral system is holding back the will of voters. It is simply
unacceptable that in the 21st century, we still face the prospect of the
largest party winning fewer votes than the other side.”

People always talk about the will of the voters especially
when they don’t like the results they see at the ballot box, and as Mr Sullivan
was ex Labour in so far as my understanding, people may wonder if his vision is
clouded.

Nancy Platts of the trade union reform group Politics for the Many added:

“For Labour to potentially secure more than a quarter of the
vote in Scotland but get just 7 per cent of seats is a sign of just how rigged
Westminster’s voting system really is. The system looks increasingly rigged
against working people’s voices, with the Tories unfairly benefitting from the
vote-wasting machine that is ‘First Past the Post’.

Platts added:

“This analysis showing just how unfit for purpose the
one-person-takes-all electoral system has become – serving the old boys’
network while workers’ interests are trampled on.”

No one compels people to vote, there is no law to force you
to do so, moving the goal posts because you don’t like the way the game is
played is risible, I don’t remember the Labour Party calling for election
reform when in 1997, the Labour Party swept into power. If political parties
want your vote they should work for your vote, they shouldn’t take it for
granted because they say they are ‘Labour’ or ‘Conservative’ or Lib Dem’, if
they don’t serve you why vote for them.

Too many people are disengaged from politics and voting
which is why we have such a bad political system, and the wrong people getting
in. Every person standing for election for Westminster or Holyrood should win their seat
in the area they are standing in by a majority of the vote.

I would abolish the list system entirely at Holyrood.

The law on UK-wide elections is reserved to Westminster, I
see no reason to change it because I like many would have a suspicion that ‘change’
would indeed lead to the vote being ‘rigged’ in favour of ‘centre left’ parties.
Scotland
still remains in political flux, parties like Scottish Labour who could count
on having secured heartlands can’t do that any more; they have to work for it
now if they want the win.

I have noticed that one thing which is sparse on the ground
is experienced political activists who are willing to come out and do the ‘long
haul’ for Labour on the doorstep. The Scottish Conservatives have a spring in
their step due to their success, after being so long in the wilderness, they
don’t want to go back onto the back foot and return to being the third party of
Scotland.

Finally; this quote by a Scottish Labour spokesperson is too
good to pass up, they said:

“This research confirms that it is Labour - under the
leadership of Richard Leonard and Jeremy Corbyn - who are now the
clear alternative to Tory austerity and SNP complacency.”

Presumably they are discounting the Lib Dems and Scottish
Greens, of
course, if you asked them what the ‘clear alternative’ actually meant, they couldn’t
tell you, not a sound strategy for future success.

Money talks, for those who thought like Nicola Sturgeon that Brexit could be
reversed, they are now looking at the old grey dawn of failure. There is no
going back, no trick, no ten to midnight solution, the people voted leave and
leave it is. Nicola Sturgeon racks up another failed battle in her war for independence.

The UK
and EU have agreed the basis of a transition deal.

This deal means that the UK
being bound to Brussels’
rules for almost two years after Brexit, this will annoy some of the Hard
Brexitters but the majority of people will see the direction of travel as
positive.

It was always going to happen that a deal would be thrashed
out, the EU was never in a strong bargaining position; they needed the UK’s money.

After we leave, you will see a change in the EU, they will
need to reinvent themselves on a structural level, they have no choice. As well
as external threats, the EU is on a collision course with Member States within
it own organisation..

The Brexit talks haven’t been open as many would wish due to
the nature of the discussions between David Davis and Michel Barnier but that
was to be expected, some people were flipping their lid as if we were being
cheated out of Brexit. The deal is a compromise, it was always going to be so
after intensive talks, now all the major sticking points have been dealt with,
this will allow European leaders to sign up to this at regular meeting on Thursday.

The red herring of the hard border of Northern Ireland
have been pushed to the side for now, so much for it being a sticking point.
The deal is good news in the immediate and long term; however we can expect to
see some pretty miserable people walking about spreading doom and gloom. The
money markets have responded well to the news with the pound jumping by almost
one per cent against the dollar to 1.40 US dollars.

The draft deal means EU citizens arriving in the UK during the
transition period will enjoy "the same rights and guarantees" as
those present before Brexit. This will upset the Hard Brexit people but along
with the UK
would be able to negotiate – but not enact - trade agreements with outside
countries during transition.

Where does leave the other opposition parties such as Labour
and the SNP, well Labour will see the reality and get on board, the SNP won’t,
Nicola Sturgeon will play the game of this can be reversed even at this late
date, knowing full well it can’t. The SNP have played no role in Brexit, their
position was unhelpful; they excluded themselves from talks by acting in a
petty childish manner.

The EU is a long and complicated organisation which is
stuffed with rules, regulations and treaties, untangling from it was always
going to be a slog, but today’s news is positive, the direction of travel was
set long ago, this is a clear marker on that road that we are going to out.

Europe is heading towards a dark place; the migrant crisis
is a symptom of a much greater social problem within European countries, the
rise of the right in many countries is an expression of dissatisfaction of the
political elite and with Brussels.
The European project is in danger of collapse, what purpose does this organisation
serve now? The EU is an anti democratic, anti country, anti worker ‘cartel’
which cloaks itself in ‘social justice’ to cover up the real truth.

The people that run the EU are all about oppression.

Finally, we are seeing the dawning of the end of the UK’s membership
of the EU, much like people are seeing the dawning of the end of Alex Salmond’s
credibility on RT. A tipping point was reached in the minds of the UK public about
the nature of the EU, and now we are seeing the same disapproval coming from
the press regarding Alex Salmond’s show on RT. The harsh reality for Alex
Salmond is that he is on RT is because no respectable TV Company would want to
touch his show with a bargepole!

The legacy he managed to create has been squandered as he
fights to stay in the limelight; the light must be on him as he has made his Faustian
pact with Putin’s Russian propaganda channel. It is said that one repeat of his
show on RT only managed to attract 10 people.

When you are seen as a Kremlin
stooge, the realisation of how bitter life can be will eventually sink in. The end
of the UK’s
membership is much like the end of Alex Salmond as a political force, long
overdue and can’t come soon enough.

The term ‘useful idiot’ is going the rounds in connection
with falling star Alex Salmond, cast out by the electorate; he has desperately
tried to forge a career as a TV Pundit. One of the things which I have observed
is despite his high status as First Minister, since leaving office, no one
appears to want his services in Fortune 500 companies. Of course we should
mention the bid to install him as chairman of a newspaper group, but his
opportunity to do that met with opposition.

It seems that when high profile SNP politicians step down,
no one of note beats a path to their door, they end up as ‘elder statesmen’
twiddling their thumbs or other body parts.

So, what is a useful idiot and does it apply to Alex
Salmond, the host of a TV show on the Russian Channel called RT.

The best description I found is from wiki, In political
jargon, a useful idiot is a derogatory term for a person perceived as
a propagandist for a cause the goals of which they are not fully aware, and who
is used cynically by the leaders of the cause.

The cause in this case is Russian propaganda; RT is a tool
of the RussianState which is used in warfare, not
guns, bombs and bullets but ‘informational warfare’. The idea is basic,
disinformation and sowing of doubt, manipulation of domestic politics in other
countries and cause division. There is of course ‘informational warfare’
practiced by other countries as well, whether they are in the East or the West.

You are told certain things and you are not told certain
things in order to manipulate you into believing a view of the world which
might not match reality. The biggest failure of ‘informational warfare’
occurred during the Brexit vote, despite all the mainstream political parties
supporting the EU, the public did not!

Since being ripped brutally away from the ‘public purse’
Alex Salmond has been a lost soul, he is on the margins of public life and for
a man who loves the limelight; this has been a brutal experience. In order to
keep himself as a ‘star’, he has done a book, a radio phone in, went on the
road with a variety act, he has been joined by a new sidekick, Tasmina
Ahmed-Shiekh who the public decided to put out of their misery as their MP.

Prior to the nerve gas attack in the UK, Alex Salmond was
roundly criticised by others for joining a Kremlin propaganda machine, even by
people in his own party, but since he wasn’t getting other real offers, no BBC,
no ITV, no SKY, the failing star decided to go with the ‘bargain bucket’ which
is RT.

Nothing like starting at the bottom, however in Salmond’s
case, he is starting at the bottom and staying there, no Jonathan Ross prime TV
show for him on the BBC. To see Alex Salmond defend a Kremlin propaganda
machine in the wake of its owner launching the first offensive nerve agent
attack in Europe since World War II isn’t just
bad judgement it is incredibly bizarre.

So bizarre that the question of is he right in the head
springs to mind!

In his defence that Salmond isn’t a stooge, he fell into the
classic RT trap, he used his show to flag up ‘gay’ rights, in Russia being a homosexual is a
risky business as the Russians aren’t tolerant.

In fact, they would kick your head in, especially in Russia.

As balance, Salmond also decided to flag up that in the
Commonwealth, some countries like Russia also aren’t as tolerant, you could put
this down to that there aren’t many homosexual politicians in positions of
power as there are in British politics. The best of disinformation is bait and
switch, in Salmond’s case; he used clips of UK MPs agreeing Russia was behind the Salisbury attack. then, the switch followed with
a couple of guests on to sow doubts.

Salmond introduced a “former MI5 officer” Annie Machon;
her previous insights include the US government blowing up the Pentagon on
9/11, and British spooks having Lady Di “taken out” in a pro-Israel plot. Next
up, the next guest’s theory was that “rogue operators” might have been
“freelancing”, in the press, the idea of the Russian mafia being behind the
attempted murder has been floated about the place.

Given that some of the Russian mafia apparently work the
Kremlin, you would have thought if they were doing to bump people off, then
perhaps the traditional way would have served better, a bullet through the back
of the head.

Of course employing gangsters does have a drawback, they
aren’t professionals, and given that the victims in the nerve gas are still
living, you have to wonder would a professional be so sloppy?

So, we have the Kremlin, we have gangsters, we have a
Russian propaganda channel called RT and we have Alex Salmond, the designated
‘useful idiot’ who protests because he can flag up ‘gay’ rights. The thing
about the ‘useful idiot’ is that they cannot see that they are being used, they
are the stooge; they are the disposal relic.

Given what has transpired, the UK allies have rallied round; the
SNP and now Kremlin stooge Alex Salmond didn’t, at the close of his show he
said:

“Until next week, I hope, goodbye for now.”

He had his goodbye on 19th September 2014,
although he had a curtain call for Westminster in 2015, that gig was probably
his last there, now he is Salmondski, gun for hire, the rouble collector.

James Dornan has said he won’t go on RT, SNP MSP joins party
boycott of Alex Salmond's Kremlin TV station, it is highly doubtful that
Russian President Putin has been informed or would care. It seems even in the
SNP, Alex Salmond’s ‘audience is shrinking!

There you are, you slog your guts out in the Russian
Foreign Service then hit the jackpot with a plum posting to the UK, and you
think life is great, plenty to see, plenty to do, and you get a chance to do
some spying to justify your existence.

Then someone comes along using a Russian-made nerve agent
attempts to murder Sergei Skripal and his daughter, and then others get
affected and bob’s your uncle, you have a shit storm at your door and you done
nothing.

The attempted murder of Sergei Skripal was a big no no, bad
concept, bad idea and the kicker, using a Russian-made nerve agent, a receipt
for disaster. And that is what we have here, a disaster for the Russians.

The UK
is to expel 23 Russian diplomats; they have a week to leave having been
identified as "undeclared intelligence officers". As the old saying
goes, that’s gotta hurt, after all, most of these people, if not all probably
had nothing to do with the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal.

One would imagine that the 23 are feeling hard done by; I
know I would in a situation that like, of course, the expulsion of 23 Russian
diplomats from the UK
is necessary. Use of a Russian-made nerve agent isn’t just unacceptable use of
force it is squarely in the ball park of terrorism.

Yesterday on twitter, I ventured the notion that if the Russian
Ambassador was deported then, he should not go alone on the flight home, there
should be lots going with him.

23 Russian diplomats or "undeclared intelligence
officers" or spies fit into the category of ‘lots’.

Russia
denies being involved in the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal, well they
better have a good story on how their military grade Russian-made nerve agent
ended up being used in the UK.
Can anyone just wander in and pick up nerve gas and sail out the door in Russia? As
expected the Russians have adopted the standard and predictable line of ‘not us
gov’. The The Russian Embassy said the expulsion of 23 diplomats was
"unacceptable, unjustified and short-sighted".

How us?

Having 23 "undeclared intelligence officers" sent
home or out the door would only be "unacceptable, unjustified and
short-sighted if they had nothing to do with it, but Moscow refuses to explain
how a Russian-made nerve agent was used on a former spy in Salisbury.

This is no time to be cute!

To show how serious this situation is and it is serious, The
PM also revoked an invitation to Russia's foreign minister, and said
the Royal Family would not attend the Fifa World Cup later this year.

Former spy Mr Skripal is 66, and his daughter, Yulia
Skripal, 33, remain critically ill, since he was a prisoner exchange, he has no
value, killing him is meaningless, at 66 years old, his death serves no
purpose. If the Russians had hanged on, natural causes would have done the job
for them. As to targeting his daughter, well, that’s rather careless isn’t it,
it rather suggests that some people have been watching too many Spy movies and
think they are a Russian James Bond.

The PM is sending a strong signal to the Russians which they
need to sit up and take notice of, yes, the security services knew of "undeclared
intelligence officers" but as we
also have our "undeclared intelligence officers" wandering around Moscow drinking vodka and
presumably shagging Russian birds, everyone was pretty much happy.

Now, the UK
is not happy which means:

The expulsion of 23 diplomats - who have one week to leave

Increased checks on private flights, customs and freight

The freezing of Russian state assets where there is evidence
they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents

Ministers and Royal Family to boycott the Fifa World Cup in Russia
later this year

The suspension of all planned high level bi-lateral contacts
between the UK and Russia

Plans to consider new laws to increase defences against
"hostile state activity"

I guess, 23 "undeclared intelligence officers"
from the UK will be heading home as well, I would assume they are just as
unhappy as their Russian counterparts, maybe they bump into each other in
Moscow Airport and discuss who was the bastard that fucked it up for all of
them.

The current tact of Moscow
is rather stupid, sarcasm, contempt, threats and defiance isn’t the way to go;
something appears to have seriously gone wrong on so many levels. It seems that
Putin’s Russia is in need of a tune up, the Cold War is over, is there any
point in a new one, especially in this day and age. The Wall has come down, the
landscape is changed, and we are supposed to be living in an age of
co-operation, at least on the surface.

The UK foreign
office has updated its advice on travel to Russia, saying "heightened
political tensions" mean Britons should "be aware of the possibility
of anti-British sentiment or harassment at this time". I think that is
code for the RussianState and its various
arms, the ordinary Russian is much like your ordinary person anywhere; they don’t
have time for this type of crap. The PM says its was "tragic" that
Russian President Vladimir Putin had "chosen to act in this way",
Putin is ex KGB.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused Britain
of "playing politics", well have they, the Russian response is not
what the people of the UK would expect from them in a matter of such
seriousness, murder is never a game and to use a Russian-made nerve agent, that’s
called advertising, and in case the ‘dumb’ Brits didn’t get it, RT, the Russian
Channel crowing that Britain wasn’t a safe place for spies, well that’s just
pouring petrol on an out of control fire. The UK is to brief the UN Security
Council on the investigation and also updated Nato's North Atlantic Council. At
the meeting, Nato allies expressed "deep concern" at the use of a
nerve agent and said it was a "clear breach of international norms and agreements".

Although 23 Russian "undeclared intelligence officers
are getting kicked out which will result in a ‘tit for tat’, we should remember
that the UK
didn’t start this, whoever did this the Russians need to find them and remove
them. Skripal came to the UK in 2010 as part of a "spy swap" after he
had been convicted by Russia of passing information to MI6, as such he was off
limits as was his daughter, a deal was made which has been broken.

Finally; Skripal was no use as an asset or even as a target
now, he is a British citizen, by his conviction, the Russians had their victory.

This episode now makes that a loss.

As to those Russian staff in the Embassy in London, well, they can expect to be followed
about by the UK Security Services who will be taken a more profound interest in
their comings and goings.

One of the things which make the United Kingdom the place it is in
the world; is the defence of free speech, but in order to defend it, you have
to recognise that in order to protect your right, you have to protect the right
of people who you oppose.

Westminster
is called the ‘Mother of all Parliaments, a cradle of democracy, but
increasingly we are seen the rise of a political doctrine that makes it
acceptable to ban people for ‘thought crimes.

In academia, a person can say that child molesters are innocent
and not criminals, keep his job and cite academic freedom, and jog on, still
spouting this nonsense with no consequences.

In the same educational environment, we seeing people getting
“No-platforming”, not allowed to get the same opportunities to put their view
points across. Speakers with whom we fundamentally disagree can suggest that
force ought to prevail over free speech and no one bats an eye on the left.

AcadiaUniversity
in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, recently announced that it was
investigating Professor of Psychology. Rick Mehta had a number of complaints over
controversial comments he made in his class.

Was he proposing sex with children, humping dead bodies or
promoting incest, no, it seems that his view on the value of multiculturalism
along with the existence of gender inequality in the workplace provoke a few reactions.

Multiculturalism is a recognised failure of the left and the
trendy liberals, a social engineering experiment gone badly wrong, not just in
the UK but right across Europe.

There is a war on, a war set to continue, not just about
free speech but also about political control and how it is used.

Austrian Identitarian leader Martin Sellner was
detained and refused entry to Britain,
he was handcuffed, held in a detention centre for three days and then along
with his journalist girlfriend deported.

Had he committed a crime?

Originally, the Identitarian leader was scheduled to speak
at a conference organised by UKIP youth wing Young Independence that got
cancelled, so he was going to go to Hyde Park
and stand on his soapbox, and follow a tradition of dissent and speak there. If
a British person had spoken the same words as Sellner, he wouldn’t have
committed any crime, so was his deportation a racist act under the guise of being
undesirable.

Brittany Pettibone was refused entry into the UK on the basis
that she wanted to attend her boyfriend’s speech and also as a journalist, she
had plans to interview former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson.

Here is a classic example of oppression to follow on from
above; Wilfrid Laurier was the site of controversy generated last fall by a
graduate student’s decision to show the class she was tutoring. During the
class a five-minute clip of Professor Jordan Peterson speaking in the context
of a discussion on a local television newsmagazine shown about the use of
gender pronouns.

Lindsay Shepherd was brought into a meeting with the course
director and two senior administrators and up-braided for her action, which was
likened to the dissemination of Nazi propaganda. The course director decided
that it was appropriate to lie that one or more students had complained.

Sadly for the three Social Warriors, we know the intimate
details of this supposedly private conversation because Shepherd secretly taped
and then subsequently disclosed it causing quite a stir.

An investigation revealed that there had, in fact, been no
student complaints whatsoever.

Suppression of free speech is everywhere, our democracy is
under threat, social cohesion is under threat and yes, our values are under
threat as well, if people in authority think it is acceptable to appoint
themselves as guardians of what you are allowed to say, we are heading to a
black place.

Finally, George Orwell, the author of the book 1984
famously said:

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to
tell people what they do not want to hear.”

It is Monday, just another Monday in a series of Mondays as
we navigate the politics lows that is Holyrood but today is different,
disgraced Mark McDonald returned.

Holyrood was built, a slogan was uttered, and pretty soon,
hope died pretty much after its birth.

“There shall be a Scottish Parliament”!

What the declaration missed out that it would be filled with
dross, and petty politics and incompetence would be its hallmark. What the
place needs is shamed and former SNP MSP Mark McDonald is the poster
boy.

McDonald has the solemn task to ‘stink’ the place up to high
heaven, to lower the tone of this dump even further, he is doing it for the ‘weans’,
not the weans of Scotland but his two, daddy needs to bring home the bacon so
they can scoff it.

Mark McDonald is back!

One thing which he shouldn’t be doing is giving speeches on
being “morally justified” given he has already held his hands up to admitting
inappropriate behaviour towards women.

“Morally justified” and inappropriate behaviour towards
women, can someone square that circle for me, and the rest of Scotland. As he
is back, he faces the realisation that for the next few years until the next
Holyrood election, he is a leper. He will be an independent MSP in more ways
that one, then he has the pressure, which has been mounting to step down from
his Aberdeen Donside seat. I don’t see Nicola’s pals doing this; the
likely contenders will be the Salmond clique, in their quest for the ‘Return of
the King’.

Nicola Sturgeon has urged the MSP to leave Holyrood because
the stink of McDonald makes her rather whiffy as well, she publicly backed
McDonald as a good MSP, and she has to say this in case Alex Salmond acts up if
she doesn’t show enough enthusiasm.

The discomfort is her trying to distance herself and failing
miserably.

Apparently Mark McDonald wants to demonstrate he has changed,
well given this is out in the public domain, he has little choice but to watch
his step in Holyrood and elsewhere, he will be under a microscope for the rest
of his tenure. He will be keeping his trap shut and his phone under wraps. Three
women are said to have identified “persistent” behaviour, which included inappropriate
and unwanted text messages, unwanted attention and exploiting his position of
power.

Oh, exploiting his position of power.

McDonald said:

“Morally I can justify it because, as I have said, my
approach to this has been to own the mistakes that I have made but to
demonstrate that I have learned from them and that I am capable of changing as
a result of those. I am asking people to afford me that opportunity, and I hope
that people will do that. I accept that many relationships are going to have to
be rebuilt – some people will want nothing to do with me and I have to
regretfully accept that, but there are some people who I think will want to
offer me that opportunity to demonstrate that I’ve learned from this and that
I’ve changed.”

He added:

“I want to be able to demonstrate that my behaviour has
changed and I am not sure that doing that through a by-election campaign is the
appropriate way to do it.”

Well, that kind of puts the kibosh on Alex Salmond’s hopes
of attempting to mount a comeback to politics.

One of the people who also wish Mark McDonald gone is James
Dornan, James Dornan is standing to be deputy leader so his intervention could
be seen as a self serving plea for votes for his chances to be Sturgeon’s
number 2.

Dornan said:

“He should certainly never set foot in the Scottish
Parliament again and I will be making an official complaint on Monday to the
parliamentary authorities to ask for his removal from the parliament to be
considered.”

“I think the position is if you concede the point that you
have acted inappropriately and you think that has been sufficiently bad that
you have to resign as an SNP MSP, I think the logic of that means that you
should resign as an MSP as well.”

Everyone following the Sturgeon line, Holyrood better get
use to the stink of Mark McDonald, maybe someone could buy him out if they have
£200k, but I suspect that he would want a top up above that an extra £200k. I
don’t see him wanting to step down and lose three years wages.

Finally, using Mark McDonald as a plank to get votes for
candidates in the deputy leadership will be seen by the candidates as morally
justified, but the reality is that Dornan and Brown are just picking the meat
of a political corpse.

This act shows how shallow the SNP are as a party
collective, they all operate to the same low standards. Mark McDonald is in
disgrace, if he has "changed", it doesn’t matter, he wouldn’t be rebuilding
relationships that is just fantasy, especially in the SNP Cult, the worker ants
don’t have independent thought.

It seems there is a new campaign in Scotland, the campaign
is to remove elected sleazy SNP MSP Mark McDonald from Holyrood, as part of the
you’re not welcome here initiative, there is a possibility that McDonald will
be getting a new office. Sadly for him, it appears that he is to be shunted into
one of Holyrood’s worst. Yesterday, when I was discussing the ‘problem’, I
mentioned an open plan office in the main foyer as a possible solution.

It seems my idea of an open plan in the main foyer or a
suitable broom cupboard has been updated to a notoriously noisy office on the
ground floor of the parliament, from this office McDonald can watch the world
go by. One thing that he might do if he is given this office is buy a pair of
headphones; it appears that Labour MSP Daniel Johnson found the nose so
bad he asked to be moved.

Although unpopular Nicola Sturgeon has led the charge to say
McDonald is welcome, I suppose everyone is waiting for Scottish Green MSP
Patrick Harvie to speak out with condemnation.

Where is Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie?

In order to try and put as much clear water between Mark
McDonald and Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP has made it clear to parliament bosses
that they do not want Mr McDonald to return to his office on the fourth floor.
McDonald would be the sandwich between MSPs Kate Forbes and Richard Lyle.

Being an outcast Mark McDonald will be probably eating
alone, sitting alone, and stared at, but hey if you want the £200,000 in wages
you gotta be tough. At the age of 37, his political career is dead, and his
employment prospects would appear to be zero or damn close to it.

As well as politicians making it clear that Mark McDonald
shouldn’t be in Parliament others have joined the ‘call to arms’, Alison Rowat
of Herald Scotland
said:

“As a self-style “independent” MSP. One foot in, one foot
out, doing the hokey-cokey with the rules and there is nothing the Parliament
or his constituents can do about it for now”.

No love there from Alison Rowat.

What Holyrood needs is a shake up, this is because when you
look at the MSPs, you are left with the question, is that it, is this the best
that Scotland has to offer, a bunch of virtual signallers who operate to their
own agendas. Mark McDonald sitting in Holyrood by default could ‘stink’ the
place up, instead of a breath of fresh air, an unhealthy dose of shit to choke
maybe what the place needs.

One thing that interests me is how Alison Rowat completely focuses
on hanging one guilty person out to dry, and does even consider ripping off on
Nicola Sturgeon who shielded McDonald. In the movies, it is important to define
the ‘bad guy’ earlier on, in this case, the other ‘bad guys’ seem to be ignored
as we get the time honoured proposition that this is all about one bad apple.

20% of staff at Holyrood claimed they have been ‘victims’,
so where are the rest of the bad apples?

And who are they?

One thing, I do agree
with is what Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said:

“Mark MacDonald was elected as an SNP member and therefore
has space allocated to him in their offices and on their benches – he should
remain in those spaces. The SNP cannot simply try to foist him off on other
parties.”

Well done Rhoda, Mark McDonald ‘stinking’ up the fourth
floor for the SNP would be entirely delicious, all the po faced buddies giving
him the ‘silent treatment’ led by Nicola Sturgeon, oh to be a fly on the wall.

A Scottish Parliament spokeswoman said:

“Discussions around the practical arrangements for Mark
McDonald's return are currently taking place. This includes a change of room.
These discussions are ongoing and no decision has been taken.”

Now, yesterday, I was subject to Nationalist abuse, of
course this isn’t new in the past I have suffered from this problem before, it
seems the angry cybernat brigade didn’t like my views of the facts that the SNP
had failed to protect food security in Scotland. I was called a ‘prick’ and a ‘fud’
and one keen mind suggested when I said I was busy that I was watching ‘Pornhub’
with a box of tissues masturbating. I was actually doing yesterday’s article
while have a chat with someone at the same time, and trying to juggle that with
a bit of studying.

Yesterday also saw the media praise Mhairi Black for a “powerful
speech” after she took the opportunity to lower the standing of the Westminster
Parliament by using foul language.

During a parliamentary debate on misogyny on the eve of
International Women’s Day, she told MPs:

"I struggle to see any joke in being systematically
called a dyke, a rug-muncher, a slut, a whore, a scruffy bint”.

She added:

"I've been told you can't put lipstick on a pig, let
the dirty bitch each shit and die. I could soften some of this by talking about
the c-word but the reality is there is no softening when you're targeted with
these words and you're left reading them on my screen every day, day in, day
out - she needs a kick in the cunt, guttural cunt, ugly cunt, wee animal cunt;
there is no softening just how sexualised and misogynistic the abuse is."

Mhairi Black also mentioned that she had been contacted by a
man she had never heard of before who told her:

"I've pumped some ugly birds in my time but I just
wouldn't."

What this person is saying is that Ms. Black who is a
lesbian has no SMV; SMV is sexual market value which is talk about by a group
of men who follow something which is called Mgtow.

The premise of MGtow is tell men don’t get married, and ‘pump
and dump’, plus don’t spend a nickel on a woman, also if she has kids stay
clear of her with a bargepole since why play for another man’s kids. There is a
lot more to this movement which is a response to the feminism movement. If Mgtow
appeals to you there is more stuff online to read and watch.

What the guy is saying when he told Ms. Black:

"I've pumped some ugly birds in my time but I just
wouldn't."

This is clearly stating that in his eyes she has no sexual
market value to him, she might think that she is this young dynamic
professional social justice warrior socialist, but it seems many people aren’t
buying it. This coupled with her actions has led many people to despise her
hence she doesn’t get called ‘nice things’.

There is a lot of anger out there in politics, and if I
recall Ms Black wanted people to make a distinction between Mhairi Black the
person and Mhairi Black the politician as if they were two separate things. I
was wondering using her analogy could she make a distinction between Fred West,
the next door neighbour and Fred West, the serial killer who tortured, murdered
and chopped up people?

When Mhairi Black decided not to fight to save the children’s
ward in Paisley, her take was that she wasn’t an MSP, but on election night you
don’t see the returning officer say that ‘And Mhairi Black has been elected by
the people of Paisley to represent them on reserved matters to Westminster’.

This is a difficult piece to write because I want to open up
the debate on something which is clearly a tricky subject to talk about.

When people refer to Mhair Black as ‘cunt’, they are using
what is regional dialect which imparts the proposition that in Scotland, she
is acting stupid. I would therefore suggest that people would dispute her claim
of misogynistic abuse, citing that cunt is equally applicable to both men
and women.

Finally, I am sure that people would want ask Mhairi Black
the question, do you believe in equality, if her answer was yes, then clearly
she is getting it.

Something happened yesterday, after disgraced ex SNP
Minister Mark McDonald resigned from the SNP, an angry bitter Nicola Sturgeon appeared on TV. After
being ‘dumped’ by him, in a rambling interview Sturgeon couldn’t look the
interviewer in the eye, although she did 'look by relax' to see if the
interviewer was buying her story.

It was a panic stricken Sturgeon firmly on the back foot trying to assert some kind of moral authority and leadership, and failing dramatically at both!

So, bitter Nicola gets ‘dumped’ and then she goes on TV to
say that Mark McDonald is not welcome at the Holyrood Parliament.

Who is she to speak for the Parliament?

Isn’t Nicola Sturgeon a bit late to the party to get on her
high horse and start to promote herself as the ‘moral guardian of the universe’?

The fact of the matter is that Nicola Sturgeon personally
backed this loser which she wants to now erase by calling for him to resign as a
MSP.

Nicola Sturgeon said:

"He was elected as an SNP MSP. If his behaviour is such
that he himself considers he cannot continue as an SNP MSP, then it would be
appropriate to give his constituents the opportunity to elect a new MSP"

Sturgeon get ‘dumped’ and now she starts a bitter ‘tit for
tat’ war, doesn’t look like Nicola Sturgeon can count on McDonald’s vote in
future. Mark McDonald formally resigned from the SNP on Tuesday; but he
stands to collect £200,000 in pay before the 2021 Holyrood election, so it is
highly doubtful that he cares what Sturgeon thinks.

Think about it £200,000 or resign and get next to nothing,
plus a lengthy spell of unemployment, plus McDonald has two kids and a wife to
support, what happened to ‘caring Nicola’, the mask seems to have slipped
rather badly.

Oh what about the children Nicola?

It is standard OP for the SNP to want to bury their
mistakes, if you look at others they were discarded pretty quickly from the
party, as the SNP is run like a Cult, even inner circle members can be sacrificed
if they endanger the ‘rat ship’.

The real bonus of this unhappy episode is that Nicola
Sturgeon, initially downplayed what McDonald’s was doing and his behaviour, and
publicly backed him by saying said he would continue to be a “good MSP”. Now,
given the revelations, she is forced to do a 180 and try to distance herself by
saying he was no longer welcome at parliament.

In attempting to shore up her position and that of her
sleazy party, she added the SNP would be “very optimistic” of holding Mr
McDonald’s seat in a by-election. Personally I wonder about this, my thoughts
are this, this guy wasn’t a rank and file MSP, he was a minister in her
government, plus when you add in how toxic Alex Salmond is, you would have to
think that the SNP would want to field a woman candidate.

This would be the SNP trying to create an air of
clearing the decks. If this was the case, that wouldn’t go down too well with
Salmond since he doesn’t like being out of the limelight, plus his media career
can’t be described as having taken off.

Alex Salmond's services wouldn't be required if a by-election is going to take place, even a win for the SNP is a miserable result if Salmond is the winner.

Although the SNP beat the Scottish Conservatives by a huge
margin, 11,630 votes in 2016; the Conservatives have had a boost right across
the north east which technically means that Donside seat is now far more
marginal.

Who would get in if a by-election happened would depend on how the
McDonald scandal played on the doorstep, let’s face it, there would be only one
issue in that by-election.

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said:

"Mark McDonald decided his conduct was not fit for a
minister or an SNP MSP - but somehow it is acceptable for an MSP without party
affiliation. People in Aberdeen Donside will rightly question that."

Conservative MSP Alexander Burnett also called for McDonald to
quit as an MSP, so there is momentum and will for a by-election. As I mentioned
earlier, McDonald’s future is very bleak and there is the £200,000 in wages to
think about, I doubt he will want to give that up anything soon. By remaining
an MSP, Mark McDonald will effectively ‘stink’ the place up at Holyrood and
further lower its standing with the public. Bill Walker tried to hang on but in
the end his problems were too great and he left.

Conservative MSP Alexander Burnett added:

“The SNP now need to come clean and publish the report into
his behaviour so that the public can judge whether he is fit to remain as an
MSP.”

As McDonald sits on the backbenches when he returns next
week, it will be a constant major embarrassment for Nicola Sturgeon, there won’t
be closure since the report into McDonald isn’t being fully published. This
leaves many questions unanswered about the content of the messages, the timescale
and intensity of his harassment, and whether any SNP MSPs defended him or decided
to challenged his accusers in private.

Although McDonald says he is coming back, he is already pencilled
in to be a pariah, no party wants his office nearby them, perhaps open plan in
the main foyer or a suitable broom cupboard maybe found.

Finally, Nicola Sturgeon TV interview was a personally
disaster for her, her open warfare on Mark McDonald may have ticked a lot of
boxes for some, however, he could be the albatross that could bring down the SNP.

And end Sturgeon’s leadership, and as a bonus, scupper many votes
for the party which is in decline, that would be terminal decline not a blip.

The bitterness in Sturgeon’s TV was plain for all to see, the
realisation that she is not in control of her own party, and can’t influence
events will lead many to question when a leadership challenge will happen. Such a challenge will probably come from those who current aren't expressing a desire to be tied to her leadership.

It seems that sleazy SNP Children’s Minister Mark McDonald has
decided to leave the Scottish National Party, he has quit!

Before people like Alex Salmond gets all warn and mushy about standing
in the Donside by-election and think how wonderful it is to get taxpayer
expenses again, there is a spot of bad news, Mark McDonald isn’t resigning from
Holyrood! McDonald is staying on as an independent MSP on the back benches; he will continue to draw his salary in the shadows in order to help Nicola Sturgeon prevent
a Salmond resurrection.

This is a tragic blow to Alex Salmond, he is still out in the cold
taking the Russian rouble along with his sidekick, Tasmina Ahmed-Shiekh. One
thing which I have been saying to others is that there is a long time before
there is going to be another election either at Holyrood or Westminster.

Anyway, there is a question now that Mark McDonald has quit
the SNP, how can a man stay on as an independent MSP after complaints concerning
his conduct and behaviour relating to four women?

If we think back to another SNP 'hero' Bill Walker, another Nicola Sturgeon
fan, after allegations of his behaviour concerning women, it all ended rather
badly, trial, conviction and jail.

Are the women now going to go to the Police?

Are we going to see a sleaze trial?

As we all know sex in politics which emerges into the public
domain doesn’t play well, especially when we have a fat specky guy who has to
answer for his conduct. McDonald resigned as a minister last November, the SNP
dragged out the investigation into him hoping that the heat would die down.

Nicola Sturgeon vouched personally for Mark McDonald.

The finding of a report conducted by private investigators
is said to be damning.

A source said an internal report into accusations against
the married dad had been completed and examined by senior figures.

They said:

“The stuff in that document proves a pattern of
behaviour”.

A pattern of behaviour, oh not good reading for some!

They added:

“We have got to start acting quickly. We don’t want
people to think we are hiding something.”

In an act of defiance, Mark McDonald said:

“I will resume my parliamentary duties next week”

So, what safeguards will the Holyrood Parliament have to put
in place now when Mark McDonald returns?

Will security have to escort him everywhere?

Will women feel safe and be allowed panic rooms?

Will McDonald be allowed to travel in a Holyrood lift if
women alone are using it?

Will Mark McDonald be barred from the bars and restaurants?

Will Nicola’s sidekick Patrick Harvie lead the condemnation
and demand he leaves Holyrood?

There is an air of sleaze surrounding Holyrood, ex SNP MSP Mark
McDonald has emerged as the poster boy, but he won’t quit; to be fair, no one
is going to want to employ his ass in the future.

Mark McDonald’s political career is dead and buried at the
next election.

Finally the profoundly bad judgment of Nicola Sturgeon has
been laid bare naked yet again, we must all remember that she personally
vouched for Mark McDonald as a ‘good MSP’, given what has happened, it is clear
that her political future much like Mark McDonald has to end.

Kezia Dugdale had a dreadful time as the former leader of
the Labour Party, the problem was that she made a spectacular amount of bad
judgments which blew in her face and made her look weak and out of touch.

Kezia Dugdale should never have put herself forward for
leadership, but she did and history is already written on this period. You
could say she picked the wrong time in Labour’s history, the trend was
downwards, and saw the party become the ‘third party’ at Holyrood.

When she left and then did a spot on TV in ‘I’m a celebrity
get me out of here’, she was condemned by many in Labour, personally, I said at
the time, I had no problem with her doing it, or the fact that she was getting
paid, in her case, it was said to be £70,000.

Well, a girl’s gotta eat!

Kezia Dugdale resigned as leader, jumped before she was
pushed, however she made the decision to go, which is why I am surprised that Kezia
Dugdale has declared war on Richard Leonard over Brexit. The question of bad
judgment arises not just from the time but also on the issue of running a
campaign doomed to failure.

A campaign in support of single market membership is a
loser!

Richard Leonard as far as I am aware didn’t have anything to
do demise of Kezia Dugdale, so her timing of trying to inflict a damaging
defeat on his leadership of Scottish Labour is uncalled for. Kezia talked
about loyalty, so why attempt to cause a scene for a fierce clash over the EU
at Scottish Labour's annual conference in Dundee.

At the conference in Dundee,
Party delegates will be asked to support a pig in a poke, called the single
market, the stance of her campaign, Scottish Labour for the Single Market.

A campaign in support of single market membership is a
loser!

Given that is the reality, what can Kezia Dugdale achieve
from her campaign, nothing positive, in fact there is a downside, that is her
rebuilding her career in Scottish Labour and be a contender for a Shadow
Cabinet position. This campaign to me which is doomed appears to be all about
undermining the leader, and as Leonard backs Jeremy Corbyn, this seems to be a
continuation of Momentum Vs Progress fight.

As to the Labour’s position coming from Jeremy Corbyn, the
customs union doesn’t look too good either, so one side of the party you have
an unacceptable position for the British people in the single market, and on
the other, a restrictive customs union. The Labour Party has singularly
failed to understand the direction of travel that was clearly voted for on the
23rd June 2016…… leave the European Union!

Dugdale's campaign seeks to undermine the claims that
Corbyn's policy shift did not go far enough, she wants free movement of goods,
services, money and people, the issue of freedom of movement, uncontrolled
immigration hasn’t worked, it has worked right across the EU, you chuck the
migrant crisis and you can see the importation of the problems which is leading
Europe to the brink.

The Campaign is co-chaired by Dugdale, Edinburgh South
MP Ian Murray and Catherine Stihler , a Scottish Labour MEP, Catherine is going
to have to find another job, because no matter what she does, her job as an MEP
is toast. Catherine Stihler would be better served seeking a candidacy for Westminster or Holyrood.

One claim which is odd; is the claim that single market
membership is the only way to tackle austerity, protect jobs, and defend
workers' rights.

That is bullshit and to show you that single market
membership doesn’t protect jobs or defend workers’ rights, here is a link, a
court case.

"Jeremy Corbyn’s welcome decision to support a customs union
puts clear blue water between us and the Tories, however – if we are to leave
the EU – the least-worst option for limiting the damage caused by a Tory Brexit
is to also remain in the single market. This is the only way to tackle
austerity, protect jobs, and defend our hard-won rights for workers and
consumers. Scottish Labour can lead the way and help persuade our party to
ensure the UK
permanently remains in the single market.”

"It's a continuation of people trying to undermine the
leaders of the Labour Party at Scottish and UK level. I'm pretty sure that when
Kez was leader someone launching a campaign a week before Scottish Labour
conference wouldn't have been something that was welcome."

Leonard said he was "relaxed" about Dugdale's
campaign launch and that he welcomes discussion and dissent.

The fight in Dundee is a
non event, it isn’t going to go anywhere, wouldn’t move events forward the Labour
Party, but then some people already know this.